birthday girlz

 She walked a tightrope between six and seven. The birthday party was over, but as the magic hour fell, alone in the back yard, she was still practicing on the slackline. She'll be better at it next year, and the next year.
   The all-Elmo birthday was a big success. She got the Elmo cake, made by Mama, and made herself an Elmo T-shirt, which she wore  despite her friends in party dresses. The paper plates and cups and napkins were Elmo too, though Mama was hard put to find stock that didn't say "first birthday." Who knows why, at sevn, in first grade, she had taken such a shine to Sesame Street. But she had, and it was a done deal. And everybody loved it.